Method of making blocks for building or like purposes.



PATENTED MAR. 15. 1904.

J. BROWER. ,f

METHOD 0I' MAKING BLUGKS POR BUILDING 0R LIKE PURPOSES.

APBLIOATION FILED AUG. 22. 1903.

110.75464@ v- APAilfBNTIzD M AR. 15,1904. IBROWER.

METHOD 0F MAKING BLOCKS FOR BUILDING'OR LIKE PURPOSES. APPLICATION FILM)AUG. 22. 1903.

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METHOD 0F MAKING BLOCKS FOR BUILDING 0R LIKE PURPSES.

. -MPL10-M1011 Hmm' me. z2. 1903. 1'- No 'MODEL s SHEETS-SHEET a fPatented March 15, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN BROWER, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

METHOD OF MAKING BLOCKS FOR BUILDING OR LIKE PURPOSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 754,640, dated March15, 1904.

Application ned August 22, 1903.

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN BRowER, a citizen. of the United States,residing at San Francisco, California, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Methods of Making Blocks for Building or LikePurposes, of which the following is a specification.l

In carrying out my process I take a mass of cement or material, placethe same upon a die, and shape the said mass into the form of a block.The mass of material is then perforated by forming one or more openingstherein. In the opening or openings a vsand or like core is placed,whichis allowed to remain until the cement has hardened suciently to sustainits own Weight or maintain its shape at the portions surroundingthefperforation, after which the sand core is removed and the dieseparated from the block.

In carrying out my method I employ, preferably, certain mechanicalagencies to facilitate the work and render the product uniform in shapeand in its general character. In carrying out my invention with thesemechanical appliances I take a mass of theplastic material or moistcement and place the same in a mold-box, and I then form the desiredopenings through this mass of plastic material, at the same timecompressing the material within the mold-box so that the same will be ofthe proper density and strength when removed from the mold-box anddried. After forming the openings through the plastic material andcompressing said material within the mold-box I introduce into the saidopenings a filler or iillers, preferably formed of sand. The sides ofthe mold-box are then stripped from the plastic material now in the formof ahollow block, with a sand filler or fillers therein, and the blockis allowed to dry. In introducing the plastic material into themold-box'I place at the bottom of the box a mold or die plate having itsupper face of any suitable ornamental form or design, and upon this isplaced a layer of rich plastic material and upon this again is placed abody of poorer material. The above process of forming the openings,compressing the material, and placing the sand filler or core is thenperformed, and when the parts of the mold box are Serial No. 170,498.(No model.)

stripped from the formed plastic material the layer of rich plasticmaterial is uppermost, and by removing the die therefrom the ornamentalface is left exposed for drying. I prefer to place the cement in themold-box while the same is in a position with the die at the lower partthereof and 4with its face uppermost, and I then turn the mold-box onits side and form the opening or openings vertically through the mass byan upwardly-moving plunger or'wedge, and as this recedes the sand mass.Before turning the mold-box and mass of material on its side to form theopenings a cover board or plate is placed on the mass and after the boxwith its contained mass is turned on its side and the opening oropenings are formed therein and the sand filler introduced the mold-boxis given another quarter-turn, so that the die is uppermost and thecover plate or board is lowermost, and after this the sides of themold-box and the die are stripped away from the mass, leaving `theformed mass of material resting on the board or plate for drying andhardening with the sand core or cores'therein.

I show in the accompanying drawings one way of carrying out my inventionand the preferred means therefor.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an end view of a mold-box for carrying outmy invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken longitudinally throughthe mold-box and part of the ram,

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lcore or iiller is introduced from above the some of the parts beingshown in side elevau tion. Fig. 3 is a view of the mold-box in its iirstposition adapted to receive the material. Fig. 4 sliowsit in, its secondposition. Fig. 5 shows it in its third and last position. Fig. 6 is aplan view of the mold-box with the plastic material therein. Fig. 7 is abottom plan view of the mold-box. l

Referring first to the mold-box, it will be seen that this box iscomposed of a bottom plate l, a top plate 2, and side plates 3 and 4.These are removably connected to each other by any suitable fasteningmeans, and I have shown one way in which these parts composing themold-box may be secured together, consisting of latches 6, suitablypivoted to the outer sides of the end plates, engaging pins 7,

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projecting from the end edges of the' top and bottom plates and the sideplates. The moldbox is provided with rollers 8, journaled in bearingssecured to the plate 4 and adapted to run upon tracks or rails 9,supported by the frame of the machine, and these tracks are extended toone side of the frame of the machine, where they may be supported by anysuitable table or an extension of the frame, such as indicated at 9. Themold-box is filled with the plastic material while it is supported atone side of the machine upon the table or extension 9 and while it is inposition with its top 2 uppermost, as indicated in Fig. 3. Before theplastic material is placed in the mold I place upon the bottom 1 a dieor mold plate l0, having its upper face of the ornamental coniigurationor of the design which it is intended to give to the face of the blockwhen completed. Upon this die-plate a layer of rich plastic material isplaced, this layer being comparatively thin, and upon this again isplaced the mass of poorer material,which entirely fills the mold-boxabove the layer of rich material. The layer of rich material isindicated at l1 and the mass of poorer material at 12. Upon the uppersurface of the mass 12 a board 13 is placed, and upon this again isplaced the cover or top 2, which is then secured in proper position bymeans of one of the latches 6, carried by the end plate of the mold.After having been filled the mold-box is given a quarter-turn and isplaced upon the rails 9, and in thus turning the mold any suitable formof crane or power liftingmachine may be employed, and to afford asuitable hold for such machine the end plates of the mold-box may havesuitable lugs or extensions 14. After having been placed on the railsthe mold -box is run into position within the frame of the machinebetween standards or straining-rods 14. The sides 3 and 4 of thcmold-box,which now temporarily form the top and bottom of the same, asshown in Fig. 4, are provided with openings 20, arranged centrallythereof and extending longitudinally but not through to the ends, thesaid openings ending at the points 2l, as indicated in Fig. 2. Theseopenings are normally closed by slides, those marked 22 for the side 4being arranged to slide on the outer or lower side of the said sideplate 4, where they are guided by means of bolts 23, passing throughslots 24 in the bars 27, and by straps or bars 25, secured to the sideplate 4, which straps also serve to hold the slides or gates in place.These slides are normally held inwardly by spring-pressure, and as arepresentative way of exerting the springpressure upon the slides I haveshown a spiral spring 26 connected with bars 27, to which the slides areconnected. There are two series of slides, which are located on eachside of the central opening in the side plate 4. The slides of eachseries fit closely against each other and practically form a continuousclosure for the opening in the side plate 4. The slides 28.l which closethe upper opening 2O of the mold-box, are similarly arranged and areequal in number to the lower slides, and normally they form an unbrokenclosure for the opening 20. They are adapted to open automatically, aswill be hereinafter described, but are not furnished withvspring meansfor closing them automatically. They are supported and guided in amanner substantially similar to that described in connection with thelower slides 22. When the moldbox is on its side in position within theframe, it fits closely under the cross-bars 17, which are adapted toresist upward movement of the mold-box when the same is subjected to thecompressing action about to be described.

In order to compress the material Within the mold-box and at the sametime form openings through the material to provide the blocks of hollowform, I employ wedge means to be thrust into and through the mold-boxwhere the openings are to be formed in the block, so that the materialwill be compressed laterally and outwardly against the sides of the boxand whereby also openings will be left in the block whenA the wedgemeans is Withdrawn. The wedge means consists of a wedge or former 29,secured to a piston 30 of a suitable power-applying means, such as ahydraulic ram. The Wedge or former is made up of a number of sections29', these being equal in number to the number of closing slides in anyone series of said slides, or, in other words, there are as many wedgemembers extending from end to end of the machine as there are closingslides or gates extending from end to end of the machine, and the wedgemembers and closing slides correspond in position, the joints or linesof division between Vthe wedge members coinciding with the lateraljoints or lines of division between the slides. The points of the wedgemembers are directed to the center line of the mold, where opposingclosing sides meet, and when the wedge moves upwardly it will enterbetween these slides, they having their ends beveled for the entrance ofthe wedge, and the wedge will pass into the mold-box and in its upwardpassage will compress the material laterally against the sides of themold-box, and as it continues its upward movement it will pass upwardthrough the opening 20, the

slides 28 moving back when the wedge contacts therewith. The wedgeaction will force the material against the die or former 10 to receivethe impression from the design on the face thereof. As the wedge lowersI introduce moist sand through a hopper 32, which directs it into theopenings left by the wedge, so that the molded plastic material willhave a sand filler located in its opening to sustain the material whilethe same is setting into shape or drying. As the wedge is leaving themold-box the lower slides or gates 22 will close,

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their inner edges bearing constantly upon the sides of the wedge underpressure of the spring 26, so that the said inner edges will cometogether at thev moment that the point of the wedge is withdrawn, andthus the operation of placing ther sand filler within the plasticmaterial will follow the withdrawal of the wedge and will take the placeof said wedge to prevent the collapse of the mass of the plasticmaterial just compressed. I form -the wedge in sections and I also formthe closing means 22 and 28 in sections, so that blocks of differentforms maybe made-that is, in respect to the openings or holestherein-for it will be noticed that by simply removing the desirednumber of wedge-sections different sizes of openings may be formed, and,if desired, a plurality of openings may be formed through the block withwebs of the cement or plastic material left between them. Thewedge-sections are secured tothe ram 30 by bolts 33, allowingthesections to be removed, and the slides are removably connected with thebars 27 in any suitable manner which will permit of their removal, suchas by bolts 23. The upper slides may also be removed by taking out theirguiding ,and holding bolts, as will be seen from Fig. 3. After thematerial has been compressed and the sand filler or fillers have beenplaced in the openings left by the withdrawal of the wedges the moldboXis run out from the frame on the'tracks 8 to a position over theextension or table 9. The mold-box is now given a quarter-turn by meansof the crane before mentioned, or manually, if desired, and its bottom 1is nowset up-4 permost, as in Fig. 5, the fastenings are loosened, thesides 3 and 4 are removed, and then the bottom plate 1 is lifted off,after which the die or mold-plate l0 is lifted from the layer of richmaterial. After this has been done the molded block with its sand filleris lifted from the top plate 2, together with the board 13, and 4it isthen set away to dry. While resting upon this board d uring this dryingor setting action the sand filler will sustain the material in propershape and prevent any displacement or collapse of any portion thereof.After drying for the proper length of time the block is removed from theboard 13 and it will then be ready for use after the removal into theopening or openings and allowing the mass to dry, substantially asdescribed.

2. The herein-described process consisting in shaping the mass inconnection with a die and forming an opening or openings in the mass andthereby simultaneously compressing the material against the die and thenintroducing a sand core or filler into the opening or `openings andallowing the ymass to dry and then removing the sand, substantially asdescribed.

3. The herein-described process consisting in shaping the mass ofmaterial, turning the same upon its side,forming an opening or openingsvertically through the mass while it is in this position, introducing asand core or filler vertically into the opening in the mass and thengiving the mass a quarterturn and allowing the same to dry,substantially as described.

4. The herein-described process consistingy in shaping the mass ofmaterial in connection with a die upon which the said mass rests,turning the mass upon its side with the die-face extending vertically,forming an opening or openings through the mass while in this positionand simultaneously compressing the material against the die-face,introducing a sand core vertically into the opening or openings and thenturning'the mass with the die uppermost and removing the said die,substantially as described. l'

5. The herein-described process consisting in shaping the mass ofmaterial in connection with a die upon which the said mass rests,placing a board on top of the said material, turning the mass ofmaterial upon its side, forming an opening or openings therein while inthis position and simultaneously compressing the material between theboard and the die, introducing a sand filler vertically into the openingor openings, turning the mass of material so as to rest upon the boardand with the die uppermost, removing the die and then allowing thematerial to dry, substantially as described.

6. rIhe herein-described process consisting in packing the material in amold having a die at the lower part thereof, forming an opening oropenings in the material while the same is in the mold and therebysimultaneously compressing the material outwardly against the sides ofthe mold, introducing a sand core vertically into the opening oropenings and stripping the mold from about the material, substantiallyas described.

7 The herein-described processconsisting in shaping the mass within themold composed of separable members vwith a die within the lower part ofthe mold, placing a cover-board on the mass, turning the mold upon itsside and forming an opening or openings vertically through the materialtherein while on its side, introducing a sand core or ller verticallyinto the opening or openings, turning the mold so IIO that the die isuppermost and stripping the parts of the mold-box from about the mass,substantially as described.

8. The herein-described method consisting in first placing the materialin a mold then forming an opening in the mass by forcing the materialfrom its central or intermediate body portion outwardly against thesides of the mold to thereby compress the material and then introducinga core of sand into the open- 10 ing While the material is still in themold, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

l JOHN BROWER.

Witnesses:

HENRY E. COOPER, VALTER DONALDSON.

